The recent surprise appointment of a youthful new head of the Ukrainian
Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has raised many questions in Ukrainian
circles about where that church is going.
But with all the questions
comes one direct and distinct answer: patriarchate.
By electing 40-year-old Bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, now Major Archbishop Shevchuk, the UGCC's electoral synod has made it clear that the steady movement to re-establish the church, after much persecution, is going to continue under the present leader.
The major archbishop, fluent in seven languages, worked under Major Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, who was working toward patriarchate status.
The Ukrainian Church was dissolved by the Soviet Union in 1946 and amalgamated with the Russian Orthodox Church. A clandestine church continued, only re-emerging publicly in Ukraine in 1989.
After becoming Pope, Benedict XVI encouraged then-Major Archbishop Husar to continue to work toward returning the Ukrainian Catholic Church to its historic status as a patriarchate.
As the Ukrainian Church embarks on its new era under a youthful leader, has the time come for Rome to finally grant the title of patriarchate to the largest Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See?
Major Archbishop Shevchuk has already made this clear. Before his first trip to Rome after his enthronement in Kyiv, he told reporters that he'd give evidence to the Holy See about the UGCC's maturity as a church.
"A patriarchate is a period in the completion of the development of a church," he said.
Major Archbishop Shevchuk is the third youngest bishop of the universal Church's current 5,000. His election by the UGCC electoral synod seems to be a clear signal that the course the Church is on, that of re-establishing itself and claiming back its historical property and status, is going to continue.
St. Volodymyr first brought Christianity to Ukraine in 988. In 1989, one year after its 1,000th anniversary, the Ukrainian Church, limping from near-extermination under the Soviets, began slouching toward Lviv, its spiritual home for centuries, with gasps of re-emergence. Now, amid some controversy, the Major See has been transferred back to Kyiv as the Church continues its reclamation process.
That near-extermination, the major archbishop said in his enthronement homily, included "hundreds of thousands of laity, priests, monks, and nuns, led by our bishops." These deaths, he added, were deaths "on a cross and therefore the giver of life."
(Major Archbishop Shevchuk was enthroned in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, which was still under construction. The name is a telling reminder of how the Ukrainians feel about their church.)
Those terse, corporeal lives were the spark continuously reigniting the UGCC in every dark corner through those shameful and gloomy Soviet days, days when that church, denied existence by Soviet authorities, seemed relegated to the history books.
The church's renewal is a remarkable story of survival. From underground ordinations and Divine Liturgies celebrated in catacombs, to attacks from Soviet media, deportations to the Gulag, and murder, the UGCC survived as members became living witnesses to Christian suffering.
The tyrannical Soviet regime helped fuel a worldwide diaspora as Stalin and his minions killed upwards of 10 million Ukrainians in the totalitarian-induced famine of the early '30s. That many Ukrainians had to leave their homeland, a tragedy then, can be viewed through a historical prism now as a silver lining of supportive faith.
The Ukrainian diaspora kept the faith of the Church alive in all the small corners of the world as the Soviet experiment with mind control died its miserable death. Communities across Canada, the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, and around the world helped to keep the Church and its cultural traditions alive.
The renewal, slow at first in the infancy of '89, is an explosion now, with seminaries overflowing in Ukraine - so much so that two in three candidates are being turned away from training because there are no spaces. The Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv has also re-opened.
After all of the adversity and long history, the largest Eastern Catholic branch of the Universal Church deserves to be granted the status of patriarchate.
By electing 40-year-old Bishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, now Major Archbishop Shevchuk, the UGCC's electoral synod has made it clear that the steady movement to re-establish the church, after much persecution, is going to continue under the present leader.
The major archbishop, fluent in seven languages, worked under Major Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, who was working toward patriarchate status.
The Ukrainian Church was dissolved by the Soviet Union in 1946 and amalgamated with the Russian Orthodox Church. A clandestine church continued, only re-emerging publicly in Ukraine in 1989.
After becoming Pope, Benedict XVI encouraged then-Major Archbishop Husar to continue to work toward returning the Ukrainian Catholic Church to its historic status as a patriarchate.
As the Ukrainian Church embarks on its new era under a youthful leader, has the time come for Rome to finally grant the title of patriarchate to the largest Eastern Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See?
Major Archbishop Shevchuk has already made this clear. Before his first trip to Rome after his enthronement in Kyiv, he told reporters that he'd give evidence to the Holy See about the UGCC's maturity as a church.
"A patriarchate is a period in the completion of the development of a church," he said.
Major Archbishop Shevchuk is the third youngest bishop of the universal Church's current 5,000. His election by the UGCC electoral synod seems to be a clear signal that the course the Church is on, that of re-establishing itself and claiming back its historical property and status, is going to continue.
St. Volodymyr first brought Christianity to Ukraine in 988. In 1989, one year after its 1,000th anniversary, the Ukrainian Church, limping from near-extermination under the Soviets, began slouching toward Lviv, its spiritual home for centuries, with gasps of re-emergence. Now, amid some controversy, the Major See has been transferred back to Kyiv as the Church continues its reclamation process.
That near-extermination, the major archbishop said in his enthronement homily, included "hundreds of thousands of laity, priests, monks, and nuns, led by our bishops." These deaths, he added, were deaths "on a cross and therefore the giver of life."
(Major Archbishop Shevchuk was enthroned in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, which was still under construction. The name is a telling reminder of how the Ukrainians feel about their church.)
Those terse, corporeal lives were the spark continuously reigniting the UGCC in every dark corner through those shameful and gloomy Soviet days, days when that church, denied existence by Soviet authorities, seemed relegated to the history books.
The church's renewal is a remarkable story of survival. From underground ordinations and Divine Liturgies celebrated in catacombs, to attacks from Soviet media, deportations to the Gulag, and murder, the UGCC survived as members became living witnesses to Christian suffering.
The tyrannical Soviet regime helped fuel a worldwide diaspora as Stalin and his minions killed upwards of 10 million Ukrainians in the totalitarian-induced famine of the early '30s. That many Ukrainians had to leave their homeland, a tragedy then, can be viewed through a historical prism now as a silver lining of supportive faith.
The Ukrainian diaspora kept the faith of the Church alive in all the small corners of the world as the Soviet experiment with mind control died its miserable death. Communities across Canada, the U.S., Brazil, Argentina, and around the world helped to keep the Church and its cultural traditions alive.
The renewal, slow at first in the infancy of '89, is an explosion now, with seminaries overflowing in Ukraine - so much so that two in three candidates are being turned away from training because there are no spaces. The Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv has also re-opened.
After all of the adversity and long history, the largest Eastern Catholic branch of the Universal Church deserves to be granted the status of patriarchate.